Peers exert more influence on each other during their adolescent years than at any other time. Research carried out shows that peer attitudes and behaviors are critical influences on teen attitudes and behaviors related to dating violence. Friends are not only influential, but they are also more likely to be "on the scene" and are a key element in a couple's social life. Roughly all the adolescent dating violence takes place in the presence of a third party. In teenage relationships, the relationship dynamics often play out in a very public way because a lot of teens spend a large portion of their time in school and in groups.

A boyfriend or girlfriend may act differently when in the presence of peers in a behavior viewed by adolescents as characteristic of a relationship that is unhealthy. For instance, boys in one focus group study said that if a girl hit...
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